As feature sizes are becoming smaller and smaller, the cleaning of the edge region of the wafer is becoming more difficult. In addition, as newer cleaning techniques are being adapted for the manufacturing process to achieve the smaller feature sizes, there are different process chemistries being utilized for these techniques. Some of these processing chemistries may be corrosive to the active portion of the wafer, i.e., the region of the wafer where the chips reside. Another consequence of the shrinking feature sizes is that the edge exclusion zone is becoming smaller. Thus any cleaning of the edge must be directed to the edge so that the corrosive chemistries do not impact the remainder of the wafer. Currently, techniques are being developed in order to facilitate the cleaning of the edge so that any particulates or contamination can be removed from the processing performed on the substrate. However, there is a need to be able to clean the edge without affecting the center portion of the wafer. As new processes are being used for wafer processing, this need will become more apparent especially with the use of corrosive processing gases as cleaning chemistries.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for systems and methods for cleaning a bevel edge of a wafer as this region is becoming smaller and to perform the cleaning without impacting the center region.